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Vendor Warning! Monarch Computer - Samsung SP1614N 160gb hard disk drives
Hello all,
I have just had a very bad experience with Monarch Computer, and Samsung SP1614N 160gb hard disk drives. Has anyone else experienced problems with these particular drives and/or with this company? Also, is there a "manufacturer's seal" on these drive packages? IE: a peice of tape or something on the packaging, sealing the package, and indicating that the drive has not been tampered with or plugged up since manufacture. There was not one on all the units that I received. I hope no one has to go through the hassle that I have gone through with this company, repeatedly they sent me bad hard drives, and even refused to give me a refund. Here's the story: I ordered two identical drives so I could setup a raid1 array. They both show up together, loosely packed in peanuts, with just a little bit of bubble wrap around them. I immediately ran Samsung's HUTIL, with the low-level format option (write and verify all zeros to drive). One drive passed, the other did not. To make sure it wasn't just my system, such as a controller, CPU, memory, power supply, or cable issue, I tried two other test beds. One of my own, and one of a fellow technician's. Needless to say, it still tested bad. So, I RMA'd the bad drive and hoped for the best. A replacement for the bad drive came in, in a timely manner, but this time with even less packing material to protect the drive. Once again, this drive failed a low level format. Again, I RMA'd this drive, explained my problem, and hoped for the best. The process repeated itself. Little packing around the hard drive, tested drive, fails low level format with HUTIL on multiple machines. So for a third time, I RMA'd the drive, and requested that they please pack with more padding, and run Samsung's HUTIL low level format test on the drive, and make sure it passes it, before they send me another drive. The process repeated itself again. There was plenty of packaging around the hard drive, and the shipping slip inside the box showed where one of the supervisors had requested that the drive be tested, and that my drives were failing low level format. Still, the drive failed the low level format test on three completely different machines, one of which is in a different physical location, several miles away! Finally, I attempted to obtain a refund from Monarch for both drives. I called Monarch up, spoke with a person in RMA's, requested a full refund for both drives, including shipping. The representative told me that he would have to research the matter and call me back. Two hours later, I had not received a phone call back. I called them back instead. I asked to speak to a supervisor in RMA's, and was put through shortly. The supervisor told me that they did not issue refunds or credits for hard disk drives. This is contrary to their return policy on their website. He also said that it was unprecedented for any person to have this number of bad hard disks in a row. He tried to blame Samsung's testing software and my equipment. He would not accept the fact that I kept getting bad drives, and that the drives were in fact defective. I asked to speak to his manager or supervisor. He said that they were not available. I told him that this was unacceptable. I also told him that if he would not refund the charges, I would be forced to dispute them with my credit card company. And I quote his response "You can play that game if you want to". At this point I said "Good day sir", and he hung up. |
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"Steve Hawkins Jr" wrote in message om... Hello all, I have just had a very bad experience with Monarch Computer, and Samsung SP1614N 160gb hard disk drives. Has anyone else experienced problems with these particular drives and/or with this company? Also, is there a "manufacturer's seal" on these drive packages? IE: a peice of tape or something on the packaging, sealing the package, and indicating that the drive has not been tampered with or plugged up since manufacture. There was not one on all the units that I received. Always pay the extra and get a retail packaged drive with the full warranty from the manufacture. Some of these online retailers are nothing short of crooks. Lane |
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Seems like this company fits the description of a crook.....
They claim they have tested the last drive I sent back as defective. I checked it in multiple machines, with different motherboards in each, and different cables. I even tried it set in cable select and in master pinned mode. It fails. I know it's not my equipment because I DO have a drive (same model) from them that DOES pass the low-level format tests. Here's the e-mail they sent me below. -------------------------------------- After running the same utilities that you ran we found no problems it passed all tests. It is possible that you may have a controller problem or a cable problem. But the drive that you returned is good. Jim Customer Service Manager Monarch Computer Systems -------------------------------------- "Lane Lewis" wrote in message om... "Steve Hawkins Jr" wrote in message om... Hello all, I have just had a very bad experience with Monarch Computer, and Samsung SP1614N 160gb hard disk drives. Has anyone else experienced problems with these particular drives and/or with this company? Also, is there a "manufacturer's seal" on these drive packages? IE: a peice of tape or something on the packaging, sealing the package, and indicating that the drive has not been tampered with or plugged up since manufacture. There was not one on all the units that I received. Always pay the extra and get a retail packaged drive with the full warranty from the manufacture. Some of these online retailers are nothing short of crooks. Lane |
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